Abstract

The 2008 Presidential and Parliamentary elections of Ghana were one of the most fiercely contested in the country. The elections ushered in the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and drove out the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP). The former was represented by the symbol of the umbrella and the latter by the osono or the elephant. The election was decided after three rounds because neither the first nor the second could determine a clear winner. Even after round three the difference between the victorious NDC, and the defeated NPP was a small margin: 50.277% to 49.77% of the valid votes cast, a difference of fewer than 41,000 votes.